NFL REPORT.

Walsh Favorably Compares Lewis To Dungy

January 12, 1999|By Don Pierson.

As coaches from the Bill Walsh School continue to dominate the NFL landscape, Sherman Lewis continues to get left out. One theory is Lewis never received a ringing endorsement from Walsh. If so, Walsh is offering one now.

"He should be a head coach right now and if he doesn't get it this year, he should get it next year," Walsh said. "He has great knowledge. He is much like Tony Dungy. When I think of two people, I think of Tony Dungy and Sherm Lewis very similarly and I'm not even connecting color with it."

Dungy became coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers two years ago after spending several years as "the most eligible African-American assistant never to get a top job."

Lewis operated in the shadow of Green Bay's Mike Holmgren as offensive coordinator in what everybody assumed was strictly Holmgren's offense.

"He's had chances to move on and maybe should have as a coordinator. He could have proven himself out from under Mike," Walsh said.

Holmgren, once Walsh's coordinator, left on Friday for Seattle. Ray Rhodes, who played and coached under Walsh and later under Holmgren, followed Holmgren in Green Bay. Andy Reid, Holmgren's quarterbacks coach, got Rhodes' old spot with the Philadelphia Eagles. Reid's predecessor in Green Bay was San Francisco head coach Steve Mariucci. Rhodes's former offensive coordinator in Philadelphia was Oakland head coach Jon Gruden.

Minnesota head coach Dennis Green coached under Walsh and with Lewis and has recommended Lewis for the Bears' job. The Bears interviewed Lewis last week and are the only team with an opening to talk with Lewis so far. Rhodes indicated he wanted Lewis to stay in Green Bay.

"I can't say he's been unfairly passed up because there's so many considerations in hiring a coach," Walsh said. "A lot of people are passed up. I was passed up for years, so I don't know if he's been unfairly passed up."

Walsh labored under Paul Brown in Cincinnati for years without landing a top NFL job until the 49ers named him in 1979.

"Sherm is rather quiet, self-effacing, not introverted but a more reserved person, so he is not out to promote and sell himself," Walsh said. "He goes about his work in a natural, unassuming, routine way and he isn't out there programming himself to become a head coach. Consequently, people don't think about him because they don't hear his name that much. There have been men like that who have become the greatest coaches of all time, so it's certainly not a negative."

Holmgren consistently endorsed Lewis, calling him the "most qualified" assistant in the league two weeks ago. The Packers may have leaned toward Rhodes because he has a harder demeanor and General Manager Ron Wolf said the team needed "a little electrical shock." When Rhodes left the Packers for Philadelphia in 1995, he said Green Bay was a tough place to raise an African-American family, so he is not shy about speaking his mind.

Dungy, who played briefly for Walsh, was passed up for years ostensibly because he was "too nice." Walsh sees parallels with Lewis.

"They are both intelligent, reserved professionals who have gone about their work in very efficient and effective ways, who have excellent communicative skills and work extremely well with others," Walsh said. "Once they take the mantle of being a head coach, then you see the other side of them. You see their organization and firmness with players and competitive zeal and their strategies. Tony Dungy and Sherman Lewis are so much alike and just by chance happen to be African-American."

Diversity: The Vikings set an NFL regular-season record for scoring and opened their quest for the Super Bowl with 41 points against the Arizona Cardinals. Under offensive coordinator Brian Billick, quarterback Randall Cunningham has completed passes to 15 different receivers this season, including himself. The Vikings have employed 10 different rushers.

So it was not surprising that Cunningham was a tad disappointed that he used only six receivers and five runners against the Cardinals.

"I don't think we really got to everyone," Cunningham said. "I don't remember throwing Jake (Reed) the ball. We didn't throw any hitches today and we didn't throw any slants, so we just stayed with the things that were working. It would have been nice to get the ball to Jake and to (Matthew) Hatchette. Maybe get a nice dumpoff to Chuckie (Evans) and a couple more balls to (Andrew) Glover, but we were not able to do that because of our scheme."

The Cardinals' game marked Reed's first action since Nov. 22, when he underwent back surgery.